The present invention relates to a locking device for an electrical connector comprising a two-part shell with a cable side for electrical cables and a connecting side in form of a printed circuit board with electrical contacts for directly contacting a mating connector, and a locking latch, in which the electrical connector is automatically locked with the mating connector when it is pushed into the mating connector.
Locking devices of this type are required in electrical connectors which are joined to shield mating connectors, so-called cages. These connectors, which are also known as SFPs, are used to transmit signals with high data rates such as, for example, in an Ethernet. These connectors are used for two-core copper wires but are also designed for electro-optical transducers, suitable for fibre-optic cables.
A number of locking mechanisms for such connectors are already known from the prior art which effect the locking and unlocking of the connectors to and from the said cages in many different ways. An optical transducer module with a similar structure is known from U.S. Pat. No. 7,507,111 which can be unlocked by means of a rotatable lever. The small moving parts of the locking mechanism are here situated on the outside and are freely accessible, as a result of which they are not protected from damage and dirt.